Peter Turnley[Photographer, b. 1955, Fort Wayne, Indiana, lives in New York and Paris.]

We hear a lot about the notion of objectivity, and I’m not sure I know what that is. I know what fairness is. I know what honesty is. And I know what the heart and emotions are. I think those are the things I particularly want to embrace. I would not want anyone to take away my right and my ability to communicate my feelings about the things that I see.

Photographers do themselves a disservice by talking too much about the equipment they use. Consequently people don’t take them seriously as creators in their own right. When people talk to writers about their work, they ask about their ideas and inspirations. When they talk to photographers, they ask about what cameras or film they use. That’s wrong—as wrong as asking a writer what pencil and laptop he uses.

The one thing that is always clear in my mind is that the people, and their stories, and the themes of life that I photograph are always more important to me than the process of photography itself.